Classic Realism

Other Paintings

Besides Tibetan thangkas, Carmen Mensink also creates paintings in other styles, and with different subjects and materials. Some artworks are still for sale, for inquiries please contact the artist.
Here’s a selection of the artwork:

Still life with Tibetan tea cups

This still life display was formed by Carmen’s personal belongings, that were bought on her travels.
Besides the glass water can with orchids, depicted is an antique Japanese lacquerware tray as well as a Chinese saucer made from rice porcelain, with three pieces of fruit in it. On the right three Tibetan butter tea cups are painted. These cups are typically made from wood (on the outside) and metal (on the inside), and have a metal lid to keep the tea hot. The painting is an example of classical realism.

Still life with Apple, Lime and Onion

It is from the masters that we learn in life, and Carmen’s contemporary realism paintings are very influenced by the paintings of the 17th Century Dutch masters, artists such as Rembrandt, Pieter Claesz, Willem Kalf and Willem Claeszoon Heda. In this small painting she tried to work with the classical techniques that the old masters used in their own still life’s with vegetables and fruit. Carmen combines it with her love for Asian objects, as shown in this antique Chinese saucer of hand painted egg shell porcelain.
The old masters in the Dutch Golden Age also depicted plates (and other objects) from the East in their still lifes, that came back to Holland by the ships from the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

Full Moon Forest

Through this painting you’re entering a forest in the middle of the night, during a full moon. A magical landscape with thick snow flakes are falling and the snow-covered ground is still intact. This large painting shows the mysterious atmosphere that Carmen likes a lot in paintings.

Sunset in Venice

Inspired by the gorgeous views of Venice, Italy where she teaches thangka art every year, Carmen created this painting of Venice in the evening, seen from the harbour. It depicts the contours of the churches and palaces on Giudecca, one of the islands in the laguna Veneta, the Venetian lagoon.

Winter Dawn

Another mystical and dark painting shows a forest in the early morning, mirroring in the lake.
The artwork is painted in many different shades of blue and has a meditative feel to it, as if time has stood still.

A few ‘making of’ pictures

Carmen took masterclasses with Cornelis le Mair. Here they stand in front of one of his paintings. Le Mair is a contemporary master painter who paints exactly in the tradition of the old Dutch masters. Read more about it in Carmen’s blog